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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 92, 5 June 1877, Page 2

Mr. John Wright, of Grehan Valley, in going home the other evening, owing to the bad state of the road leading up that valley, fell, and dislocated his ankle. After being carried home, he was seen by Dr. Bulmer, who reports that he is progressing favourably

We hear that the E. and U. Cameron well known as .a trader to this porfc, has been purchased from Messrs Saxton and Williams, by Mr. J. Smith, of Le Bon's Bay, to supply the place of the ill-fated Edwardj in the timber trade between Le Bon's Bay and Lyttelton.

There is some probability of amusement bein.g afforded to us during the winter evenings.. We learn of a Company being started called the Akaroa Amateur Ethiopian Company. There are 14 members belonging to it at ? present, and the first per" formance will be in about a fortnight j when two negro farces and several songs and dialogues will be introduced. A pro. gramme will be published in a few days and we hope to see the Company well

patronised

A meeting of the members of the Le Bon's Bay library was held on Saturday evening, 27th inst., to elect a new committee. The chairman, Mr. Crotty, read the annual report, showing a considerable balance to the credit of the library. The following were elected a committee:—H. Bailey, G. Crotty, W. Foster, J. Bailey; jun., F. Aldridge, and J. Aldridge. Mr t B. Bailey was elected librarian and treasurer, and Mr. Foster, chairman. After a vote of thanks to the retiring chairman and commitee the meeting adjourned.

On Wednesday forenoon a very interesting incident took place in the cchool-room, Le Bon's Bay. Several of the parents and memhers of Committee .having entered the room, Mr. Charles Bailey the eldest of the pupils stepped forward and said. —"Mr Thompson, as you are leaving us we hope it is to better yourself.; A pleasing duty is assigned to me to present you with this gold pencil case and watch guard, as a mark of the respect and esteem in which we, your scholars hold/you, and we wish you all success in your new school." Mr. Thomson, made a suitable reply to the I children, and also addressed those who were present on the occasion. It is hardly necessary to state that Mr. Thomson's leaving is much regretted by the community. •

The last meeting of the Mntual Improvement Society passed of&witn considerable eclat. The room was quite crowded-by an audience that evidently took great interest in the subject under discussion, viz., the desirability of admitting Chinamen to'the colonies as emigrants. Mr. E. Eeddin opened the discussion in the negative, and Mr. ft. Black espoused the cause of the »' the heathen Chinese." A pleasant and noticeable feature of "tne evening was the number of young members who took part in the discussion. This evening Mr. M'Gregor will read an .essay on Art.

Messrs. Bridge and ' Bushell succeeded yesterday in" disposing of the section of land in Balguerie-road, between the section belonging to Darmandritz and Lelievre, about 2£ acres, for the sum of £150. The purchaser was Mr. Lelievre.

We have just heard that, on the applL. cation of a number, of the inhabitants of Akaroa, forwarded to the Minister of Jus. tice a few days agoy the jurisdiction of the Resident' Magistrate's, Court at Akaroa has been extended- to'.si]oo. The extended jurisdiction was conceded to the petitioners almost immediately upon application, and must we are sureprgye a boon to residents within the Court's jurisdiction and at the same time is a flattering mark of the estimation in which the occupant of the Bench and the gentlemen who assist him in the dispensing of justice are held by the department of Justice in Wellington.

The contractor for the footpaths at the South end of the town'having now finished his work the streets present a neat and town-like appearance, and we are sure that those whose business calls them out after dark find the advantages of the pathways instead of floundering as before in the mud. The contractor is now. getting on with the sideway of the main road, and in the course of a few weeks pedestrians will be able to walk from end of the town to the other without having to encounter the dirty- roads of the ' early days. ' If the Council would only erect the long-talked of lamps, we should have menaed oiir ways considerably.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Borough Oouncil, will be held at their offices to-moiTOw evening, at seven o'clock.

We have to remind those interested that the annual meeting of the Commissioners for considering applications under the Li_ censing Acts, will be held in the Court, house to-day, at noon.

" Eiipolis," in the Lytlelton Times, says : the Auckland people, not content with exposing and driving poor Walker, the trance-medium, outVpf his resting-place to take refuge in the more congenial haunts oil spiritual Dunedin, have lifted the veil from the mysteries of the Davenport brothers, and given them a "tying up" from which they could not recover. So, like rats that desert a sinking ship, Messis Fay and Davies have seceded from the " mighty fallen," and started in business on their owe account.

This is how a cqntemporary cleverly sums up the - new -M.H.K. for Wellington, Mr. Travers : "He has lived almost all over the colony in his > time, and he of course has seen almost everything. A soldier, a lawyer, a brewer, a judge, a naturalist, a politician, he is at all times prepared,'like Lord John Eussell 'to take command of the Channel fleet, or perform an operation for the stone.' He is a fluent, forcible, and most entertaining speaker, and possessed of a voice like Boanerges,, the son of thunder, never fails to gain a hearing. Mr; Travers is not troubled with any nervousness .or excess, of modesty ; but on. the 4 .contrary, enjoys all the advantages to be derived from a rich endowment of as triplex ; and cares no more for his political opponents than for the wind whistling over the roof."

The writer of "Feathers and Chaff" in the Wailcato Times.says:—"""A reporter's duties are not always of the pleasantest. I remember one at a fire who got wet through with water from the hose, all hig hair scorched off, knocked down by a falling brick, sprained his ankle, had his belltopper caved in. and was laid up for six ■weeks. Another enterprising scribe, de. sirous of emulating the exploits of Greenwood, the " Casual,' and the ' Vagabond,' knocked down a J.P. with the view of getting seven days, so as to bo able to write a sensational article on a gaol. He got the seven days. It "happened, however, that the journal to which he belonged had written some severe articles on the gaol. In poking about for information on the. first day of his incarceration he committed a flagrant breach of the prison regu lations, and so the gaoler, by way of re_ venge, made him ' do' the rest of his time in'solitary'on bread and water, and cut

his hair, He didn't gather much information about the internal management. of that gaol, and when he came out, the father of his,affianced, who was a churchwarden, tabooed his house," and broke the engagement. The other day a reporter went on board a vessel in the harbor for news. ' I'm the reporter of ,' he said, in answer to the captain, who was directing the movements of the crew—a Maori and a small boy. 'Oh ! you are, are you ?' replied the son of Neptune, 'then IVβ a precious good mind to ring your nose!' A' paragraph in the previous day's paper j had aroused the commander's ire."

Some of the operators, or transcribers, or clerks, in the New Zealand Telegraph Department occasionally make a fearful hash of their work in transmitting messages, says the Wellington Post. Move especially is this the case in special telegrams sent to the Evening Post by its own corresponpondents. Sometimes the messages, as received by us, are almost unintelligible, and we have to make the most painful mental efforts to put them into intelligible shape. Occasionally, however, a message is received which beats us altogether. Here is a specimen to hand from Dunedin thie morning. Keader—read it, and then cease to wonder why editors are addicted to the use of strong language, and become prematurely grey-haired. Here it is :—" One of Grew of gazalle says in which general gant it was discovered her figure head and dry pieces wreckage found what is j known o& wreck was seen in eight fathoms with clear bottom." Now, what do our readers think of that ? And you. Oh ! Dr. Lemon, the Emperor of all the - telegraphists, what do you think of it? Seriously speaking, we will not submit any longer to go on paying for telegrams transmitted in such a slovenly fashion as this. We employ a competent correspondent, at Dunedin, who hands in the messages there in an intelligible shape, and yet this is the sort of hash that the operators or transcribers make of them.

The following terrible story appears among the items of news by the mail which lately arrived:—Leonard Amblain, a Belgian, was arrested on board an out-ward-bound steamer for Liverpool, accused of the robbery and murder of Mr. Messit, the banker, and his housekeeper, at Ivory, near Brussels. He was delivered on Friday to the Belgian officers at Dover. On arriving at Ostend, the prisoner being manacled, the officer took a special compartment in the Brussels train. Oα arrival of the train at Brussels both were missing. The compartment they had occupied was deluged with blood, and bore marks of terrible struggles. The body of the officer was found beside the track, with the skull and face battered. All his valuables were missing, and it is conjectured that Amblain watched his opportunity to attack the officer, and with his wrist-irons, beat him to death, after which he unlocked his manacles and escaped. He was captured at Lille, in France. .

From our Melbourne files of the Argus, we notice a lively but interesting discussion between the editor of the Argus and the Hon. James Service. The controversy has arisen out of some letters wrttten by a gentleman connected with the Argus staff, who, under the signature of ' A Vagabond," has uplifted the veil, and shown to the outside public how the management of the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne is conducted. The " Vagabond," it appears, applied for and obtained a situation as hall porter, and for three weeks in that capacity took notes of how the institution was being conducted. When he obtained the information he sought for, he at once gave notice to the Secretary of the institution that, having received • a more lucrative offer, he desired to leave. The Secretary, unaware that he had such a distinguished literary gentleman in his employ as the Argus expressed his regret at his desire to leave, and urged him to continue in the situation, but of course without avail. On the Vagabond leaving his employment at the Hospital, he was presented with testimonials both from Mr. Tate, the secretary, and also from Dr. Hearne, the resident physician, who both recommended him as an " industrious, obliging, smart, and steady man. Shortly afterwards, no doubt to the great astonishment of the officials, the letters of. K A Vagabond" appeared in the Argus, in which the secret workings of the institution were exposed. How goods were'supplied to the hospital by coumritteemenjthe ill-temper and strange conduct of'the matron —how the matron had discharged 120 nurses and servants in five years—how badly the patients' food was provided—in one instance one of the doctors had effected an operation on a man with a pocket knife, and otherwise the institution was " run." The Hon. James Service rushed into print to defend the institution of which he was the head, but the fallacy of his arguments has been exposed by the editor of the Argus, who also defends his clever contributor from the assaults of all those who assail him. The Vagabond's letters on this subject, and also on several subjects upon which he has enlightened the public of Melbourne are advertised to be printed and published by Robertson and Co. As described by even Mr. Service himself, they are clever, amusing, and instructive.

. Second shipment of Winter Goods to hand ex " Otago," from Glasgow. Splendid value in woollen goods. Twilled winceys, ladies' and children's jackets, men's boys' and youths' suits and overcoats. Call and see the value at Criterion House, G. Black.—Advt.

A somewhat dissolute old gentlemen who was more remarkable for the length of time he had lived in the cplony, and sound judgment with respect to whisky, than for other virtues, called on a worthy merchant last week (says the Sydney Evening News), and entreated on account of auld lang syne for a loan of £25. The opulent citizen leaned back in his comfortable armchair, placed his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, and shook his head slowly from side to side. "My dear sir, , ' quoth the wealthy merchant, " I am grieved, but I cannot comply with you r request. lam not bound to give my reasons, but you are welcome to them. I have a wife, my friend—l have a wife." " Is that your reason ?" asked the dissolute colonist, " because for the matter of that I had several." "Hear me out," continued the merchant. "My wife is a source of great pride to me, but she is also a source oE great expenditure. She must have carriages, horses, a villa in the suburbs boxes in the theatres, dresses from Worth's' and other trifles that- mount up. A lady| you know, of such fashionable tendencies must be humoured, and, in short" " Well, I don't know," interrupted the needy one, who had been biting his nails during this oration, " She usen't to be so particular when she was washing for my mate and me on the Bendigo." The loan was not only granted, but to show his regard for an old friend in distress, the wealthy merchant readily consented to pay his passage to other shores^